I see a lot of debate online and elsewhere that discusses the topic of white privilege. It seems the largest gap between the debate is misunderstanding what “white privilege” means.
White privilege is defined as “inherent advantages possessed by a white person on the basis of their race in a society characterized by racial inequality and injustice.” Many people mistake this definition to mean white people don’t have problems, but what it actually means is that white people don’t face the same issues people of color do.
For example, people of color face more obstacles to place a mortgage on a home, to receive loans, to buy a car, to participate in politics, employment/job status, judicial treatment and safety among law enforcement. Not to say that white people don’t struggle with these issues too, but these issues come across white people in a normal, procedural way; whereas, these issues are magnified for people of color based on racial discrimination.
According to Barbara Applebaum’s article,“White Privilege/White Complicity: Connecting ‘Benefiting From’ to ‘Contributing To,’” she writes, “One way, then, that whites contribute to the perpetuation of systemic racism is through experiencing privilege and a systemically induced ignorance that promote a relentless readiness to deny, ignore, and dismiss what victims of racism are saying, and that thereby enables whites to maintain their moral innocence.”
Denying that people of color still face issues mutually exclusive to white people only perpetuates racism. Then injustice against people of color will only continue because those who discriminate won’t be held accountable. By accepting America’s reality and acknowledging race still matters in this country, we are one step closer to eradicating systemic racism.
White individuals are not blamed for the corruption of this nation. White individuals are not blamed for systematic racism. In truth, people of color contribute to systemic racism in a variety of ways too. The importance to building a better community is for a majority white nation to understand how white people benefit from white privilege and what gaps can be closed to ensure racial equality.
“Acknowledging rather than denying complicity is the first step in creating a shared language and a condition of dialogue,” Applebaum writes.
